Days ago, Team ICB was the first online automotive publication to bring you the news about Mahindra suspending fresh bookings of its flagship XUV500 SUV’s top end W8 AWD variant due to overwhelming demand and limited production capacity at its Chakan plant off Pune. Lightning, it seems has struck again and this time around, Mahindra is suspending fresh bookings of all variants of the XUV500 SUV, until further notice.
Mahindra has sent out advisories to Mahindra dealers across India to stop taking fresh bookings for the XUV500. Thus far, Mahindra has received over 8,000 bookings for the recently launched XUV500 SUV, which incidentally is the first Mahindra SUV to feature monocoque construction. Mahindra currently has a production capacity of 2,000 units per month, of the XUV500 SUV from its Chakan plant.
The firm also plans to increase production by 1,000 units to 3,000 units in the next couple of months to ensure that the XUV500 SUV is available to customers with reasonable waiting periods. Currently, the waiting period for the XUV500 stands at 4 months. Mahindra closing bookings for the XUV500 SUV evokes memory of the Toyota stopping bookings of the Fortuner SUV. We can only hope that bookings will reopen soon and the XUV500 will not command big premiums like the Fortuner did for early delivery.
Mahindra XUV500 SUV
Also, another factor that remains to be seen is whether the “introductory price” at which the Mahindra XUV500 SUV was priced at during its launch will be maintained even after bookings reopen in sometime. The Mahindra XUV500 SUV’s starting price of INR 10.8 Lakhs-INR 12.88 Lakhs, was a major reason for the SUV to have clocked huge booking numbers apart from the feature loaded specifications of the XUV500.
The XUV500 SUV uses a 2.2 Liter common rail, turbo diesel engine derived from the Scorpio SUV, albeit with more power and torque. Producing a peak power of 140 Bhp and a peak torque of 330 Nm, the XUV 500′s diesel engine is mated to a six speed manual gearbox. The SUV is available in front wheel drive and all wheel drive guises even as the XUV500 will be offered with a six speed automatic gearbox in the future.
The XUV500 SUV also comes loaded with safety equipment like 6 Airbags, ABS, Electronic Stability Program and Hill Descent Control to make for a very safe SUV. Also, the Mahindra XUV500 SUV comes with good ride and handling, which is a big step up from the nervous high speed handling of the Scorpio. All in all, the XUV500 SUV is a big step up for Mahindra as a automaker of repute with big global ambitions.
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